Families and Workplaces

The Pope

You might remember when the current Pope got poped, or i believe inaugurated is the correct term there was much pomp and ceremony. But one story stood out. He refused the red prada shoes, and after he was elected, he rode the train back to his hotel to pay the bills and sort himself out.

This stories stood out and garnered a great deal of good publicity because they were good examples of a leader exercising his power with humility. And of course it resonates with us because it’s a picture of the kind of leadership Jesus calls his followers to, humbling ourselves, or as Paul said last week in Eph 5:21

Ephesians 5:21 TNIV

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Context

Remember last week I talked about the importance of context.

And so, we must make sure we come to this part of Ephesians as we come to any other part of scripture and seek to understand it in context.

And so our reading today about children and parents and slaves and masters is part 2 of this section from Ch 5:21 about submitting to one another, about wives submitting to their husbands and about husbands loving their wives sacrificially and in order to let them flourish. As Paul sums it up in Eph 5:33 - it’s about love and respect.

And we know that Paul is concerned with these more intimate relationships because of his wider instruction for the Christian so far in Ephesians.

Chap 1-3 Outlining Paul’s big theological ideas - we are made alive in christ and made one in him.

In Chap 4, Paul begins outlining the new standards that God expects of those who have experienced his grace, who have been made alive in Christ and who are being joined together to form one new society.

We’ve seen so far it’s unity and purity.

Paul focuses on these more intimate personal relationships because you won’t live lives of unity and purity in the church community if it doesn’t flow out of your closest relationships.

Husband and wife last week - check podcast.

This week:

Parents and children

and

Slaves and Masters

Parents and Children (6:1-4)

Children

And the first thing to note here is the rather stunning fact that Paul now moves to address Children.

We know that children were often treated badly in the 1st century. In the Roman Empire babies were often abandoned, weak and deformed ones were killed.

Children were seen as a nuisance. Less than human.

And of course for the Christian they follow Jesus who turned this whole view upside down.

Matthew 18:5 TNIV

And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

So Paul models how living out the faith has radically transformed these people. Children are not only part of the meeting, but important enough for the Apostle to address them directly.

Two things to say here:

Anytime you catch yourself cursing the presence of children, particularly in church, remember that Jesus said its in the welcome of children that we welcome him!

It was and is expected that the church would be a place where children were taught the faith. We have an obligation to do whatever we can to make that happen, and I praise God for the growth he has bought to our parish in that regard over the past 12 months and I pray for more. I hope you do too!

So it’s amazing, but what does Paul ask of the children?

1. Obedience:

Ephesians 6:1 TNIV

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

Why? Because it is right.

That is it is obvious to Paul from nature that this how children and parents ought to relate.

And in fact this is not a particularly Christian idea, that is it is how God has ordered nature. And so both Greek and Roman moralists taught that this was a good idea. And we know other cultures too teach this idea. For example, Confucius says so too.

So do you have to do everything your mum or dad says?

“In the Lord” are the key words.

The Message of Ephesians 1. The Duty of Children (Verses 1–3)

Children are not to obey their parents in absolutely everything without exception, but in everything which is compatible with their primary loyalty, namely to their Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Honour:

Ephesians 6:2 TNIV

“Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—

That is you give them the respect they deserve, it’s I guess an internal attitude that works itself out in obedience. That is if you give your parents due honour as a child, then you will do what they ask.

Why should we honour our parents?

Ephesians 6:3 TNIV

“so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

Is Paul saying if you honour your parents you won’t die young? No… rather it’s more general than that>

...what is promised is not so much long life to each child who obeys his parents, (But) … social stability to any community in which children honour their parents.

Stott, J. R. W. (1979). God’s new society: the message of Ephesians (p. 241). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.But not just kids who get told what to do.

That is strong families build strong societies.

So should you expect your 60 year old son to obey you? Or if you’re 15 when do you get to stop obeying?

The answer to this is cultural.

So there’s the 18 thing, but I personally think the moment you move out, and become financially independent you have come of age in our society. And so we can’t expect our 60 old son to obey us, but we still would hope they continue to honour us including looking after us as we age.

So what about the responsibility of parents in all this. Well just like the wife is told to submit and that kinda sounds bad until we see the husband is called to sacrificial love so too with the children they are called to obey their parents, but their parents are called to exercise their authority with restraint:

Ephesians 6:4 TNIV

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

And in the day of gender inclusivity I think the instruction can be applied also to mothers. But also given the instruction to children in verses 1-3 was concerning parents it is legitimate to see this command as applying to both mum and dad today.

However in Paul’s day, this command for the Father placed a particular counter cultural call on him. For in the Roman family, the Father was the head of the family and he exercised authority over the whole family. He had full rights over his children as a master did over a slave. They could be hard task masters indeed.

Paul says Fathers’ don’t be like all the fathers you know and probably had, rather be like your heavenly father, who loves and cares for his children and helps them to grow. Just as the husband should love his wife and allow her to flourish, he should father his children in a way that lets them flourish too.

10:30 only

So check your heart parents. Are you misusing your authority?

making irritating or unreasonable demands which make no allowances for the inexperience and immaturity of children?

being harsh and/or cruel?

showing favouritism and over-indulgence?

So we have obedient children and loving parents… Paul then moves to

Slaves and Masters (6:5-9)

Ephesians 6:5 TNIV

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.

Ephesians 6:6 TNIV

Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.

Ephesians 6:7 TNIV

Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people,

Ephesians 6:8 TNIV

because you know that the Lord will reward each one of you for whatever good you do, whether you are slave or free.

Once again, just as it was amazing that Paul the Apostle would address children directly, so too that he would speak directly to the slaves in the Christian community. Again the gospel has radically transformed the way they do community.

Scholars like William Barclay tell us that there were heaps of slaves in the Roman Empire:

The Message of Ephesians 3. The Duty of Slaves (Verses 5–8)

It has been computed that in the Roman Empire there were 60,000,000 slaves

The Message of Ephesians 3. The Duty of Slaves (Verses 5–8)

They constituted the work force, and included not only domestic servants and manual labourers but educated people as well, like doctors, teachers and administrators. Slaves could be inherited or purchased, or acquired in settlement of a bad debt, and prisoners of war commonly became slaves.

They were generally not well regarded:

The Message of Ephesians 3. The Duty of Slaves (Verses 5–8)

Aristotle could not contemplate any friendship between slave and slave-owner, for, he said ‘A slave is a living tool, just as a tool is an inanimate slave’, although he could at least concede that ‘a slave is a kind of possession with a soul’

They were like children in some ways. Owned completely by the Father.

However in Paul’s day stoic Philosopher Seneca was urging kindness to slaves, and this made sense because if you treated your slave well, they lasted longer, worked better for you. Kindness was like an economic investment in your property.

Paul’s instruction to the slave is to obey their masters because this relationships reflects something of their relationship with Jesus. Who is their lord and master. Paul is reminding the slave that instead of serving his master to please men, he is serving to please Jesus.

Stott:

The Message of Ephesians 3. The Duty of Slaves (Verses 5–8)

Exactly the same principle can be applied by contemporary Christians to their work and employment. Our great need is the clear-sightedness to see Jesus Christ and to set him before us. It is possible for the housewife to cook a meal as if Jesus Christ were going to eat it, or to spring-clean the house as if Jesus Christ were to be the honoured guest. It is possible for teachers to educate children, for doctors to treat patients and nurses to care for them, for solicitors to help clients, shop assistants to serve customers, accountants to audit books and secretaries to type letters as if in each case they were serving Jesus Christ. Can the same be said in relation to the masses of industrial workers with tedious routine machine-minding to do, and to miners who have to work underground? Surely yes. The presence of Christ in the mine or factory is certainly no excuse for bad conditions. On the contrary, it should be a spur to improving them. At the same time, their situation is not nearly as bad as slavery in the Roman Empire, so that if the work of Christian slaves could be transformed by doing it as to the Lord, the same must be true of Christian miners, factory workers, dustmen, road sweepers and public lavatory attendants.

Do you conceive of you work as something you do for Jesus? Because it is. And when you do it transforms your attitude.

Masters

Ephesians 6:9 TNIV

And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

They are called to treat their slaves as they would like to be treated.

They are called not to misuse their power by threatening them. Threats are a weapon which the powerful wield over the powerless, but they are one in Christ so Paul forbids this kind of relating even between slave and master.

And it is their unity in Christ with the slave that Paul finishes this section with. Jesus doesn’t think the master is better than the slave. He shows no favouritism. All are equally saved by grace.

And so if you’re a boss, do you think of yourself as better than those you command? The gospel says no.

And do you seek to treat your workers and you would like to be treated? Or do you wonder why they have nothing contempt for you when the feeling is mutual?

Jesus loves your workers/employees and you should too.

Radical Christ shaped personal relationships

Paul in this section from Eph 5:21 - 6:9 is calling the Christian to live out their personal relationships in a radically counter cultural Jesus shaped way.

Particularly striking is the call on men, who in Paul’s day had extreme power to use that power for good. It wasn’t a call to smash the patriachry but rather a call for Godly men to lay down their lives and use their power for good. To be like Jesus, who had all the power and authority on heaven and earth and laid it down to die on the cross for you and me.

Let Christ be our model for sacrificial love and leadership, submission to one another, and obedience to those in authority. And lets keep asking God to fill us with His Spirit so we can live the kind of radical counter cultural lives in our personal relationships Paul is describing here.